Thoughts about anything

"Patterson was holding the bat at the knob and swinging from the heal. He paid the price for that." - Vin Scully on Pattersons 9th inning at bat.

I guess Corey is a player you love or hate, because he has to learn some bat control for me to start to like him more.

The game is heading into bottom of the ninth inning and I don't have a great feeling about it. Carlos Zambrano looked good tonight as he only allowed one hit.


More later

Heading to the Chapel

Well, I am not getting married, but my old high school buddy Edmond Lewis Whitfield III (Or just Lewis for short) is tying the note this weekend in San Antonio. Of course he has pulled me out of retirement to dust off the old singing chops one last time. It is the first solo I have done in about four years, but I could not turn down a chance to make a total fool of myself.
The days of me being a Music Major have passed me by, but if you can't do it for a friend, who can you do it for? Hopefully I will be able to make it through all the non-sense and not screw up.
I always thought Lewis should use his full name more often it is right out of an Old English novel, but I digress.
I am writing to tell you that everybody needs a friend like Lewis. I met him when I moved to Hoover, Ala. in the third grade and we became friends right off the bat. Those early years were highlighted by many dubious dealings, but who was perfect in their youth?
We had many things in common like out our love of movies. He was the first to get me to watch Boondock Saints and I returned the favor with Tigerland (Which by the way are both great movies).
What makes Lewis so such a great friend, I believe is the whole notion of the yin and the yang. Many of you now I graduated from the University of Alabama and of course I am Cubs fan (hence the site). While I love those two teams, I am sure he would rather jump off a bridge instead of rooting for them. You see somewhere along the way I became friends with a guy who number one college is Auburn. To make matters worse (you think Auburn would be enough) he also roots for that terrible team in a little town called St. Louis.
There is nothing worse than getting phone calls from friends telling you how great their teams are, but our friendship still remains. I guess it is the pain that we give each other that keeps us going.
2004 was a very rough year for me as Lewis's friend. Not only did the Cardinals make the World Series, but the Tigers somehow won everygame they played in, but in a little justice the BCS was on my side and kept them out of the National Title game. It was the only time I actually rooted against having a playoff in College Football. Those guys at the BCS do know something after all.
So as we get ready this weekend, take time to cherish your moments with friends. Some are there to root with you, but some of the best are when you are rooting against each other. It creates so much more drama and that is really what makes life worth living.
I hope everybody has a great weekend and that the Cubs actually start playing well. I have failed to see many games so far this year, but I feel a turn around coming. It could come at a better time where I can look good in front of my most hated Cardinals fan and one of my best friends. It is just odd that they are the same person.
Congrats Lewis and I wish you all the luck the world.

Not Much To Write About

Sorry All,

Not for the Cubs performance, but for my lack of writing about it. It is just a little hard to get excited about. Anyway, I left to go on my Honeymoon at the end of April and the Cubbies were clinging to second place in the crummy NL Central just trying to stay above .500. Well I returned to see that I did not miss a damn thing! Not that I really expected anything less, or more for that matter. But I did not expect Woody to be back on the DL. My gosh, what the hell do the Cubs players do in the off-season to keep in shape? Sign autographs? Anyway, we again have a bunch of key players hurt. Borowski, Garciaparra, Walker, and Wood again. We could probably field a better team with just our DL lineup. I'm sorry, I need to stop being so negative. What about big D. Lee? Where did that come from? The player who is known for slow starts comes out of the gate like an MVP. April player of the month, leading the NL in HR, RBI, and average. Not too shabby. Now can he get a little to rub off on the rest of the team.

So people want Baker's head. What's new? What the Cubs need now, and have needed for a while, is a real SOB manager. A Tommy Lasorda, a Larry Bowa, or even a teddy bear with an attitude like Don Zimmer. It's not Baker's fault that the Cubs need a kick in the ass and he is never really had to do that. It is Baseball's fault. These players are being paid so much money that teams think they cannot afford to sit them on the bench or better yet send their ass down to the minors. It would not make sense to have a player in AAA making $2 million a year. There is a lack of "pressure to perform" in baseball. Unless a player is in a contract year, they play about 75%. Wouldn't you? If you were guaranteed $5 million a year for 4 years, would you risk possibly getting hurt? Only if you are at the end of that 4 year contract anyway, and want to keep playing.

I guess need to quit picking on baseball. It is the same in big business. Once you have done something to command a big salary you are in demand, so you make the all the bidders pay big time to win your services. And then as the kicker, you make them pay if you end up sucking. First they suffer from your poor performance, then they cannot fire you without paying some penalty (out clause). Check out some of the severance packages for the big companies CEOs, they resemble baseball contracts a lot. Funny thing, huh?

Let's hope the Cubs get on the ball so I can get off my soapbox and give you guys some good news next time I write.

How far we have come

I took my day off from work on Friday. I was so happy, finally I get to see the Cubs. I understand what people actually have to go through for work and I am a sports writer.
And what do I get treated to? LaTroy Hawkins sucking again and costing us another game. That was the six straight loss and on Saturday number 7 took place, but I missed that because of work at the State Baseball Tournament.

A few years ago I would not have felt this way, but now I feel sick even thinking about the Cubs. This is the team that two years ago caputured my heart and forced me to go to Miami to blow off school. Now that team is gone and all of us Cub fans are left with hearts being ripped out by Hawkins and company. We have lost more games like that and it is getting harder each time.

Kerry Wood is not the pitcher we dreamed of three years ago. Mark Prior may actually be human and not the Cy Young winner every year.

My number one complaint is the fact that the Cubs a couple years ago were going to be built on young farm talent. And as of right now Corey Patterson is the only regular that we groomed. Jason Dubois has not recieved a chance yet and it looks like he will not as long as Dusty Baker is still there.

There is still hope for us all, but it is fading real fast. Our expectations have been raised after coming so close in 2003 and now it is harder to see our team lose. The only thing that could help is years of losing as we settle back in a pattern we all were used to before these Cubs gave us the worst thing of all.................

THE TASTE OF WINNING